Madison – Homeowners who shoot intruders would receive strong legal protection, under a bill approved by the state Senate on Thursday and the Assembly early Friday.

The bill passed in the Senate on a bipartisan 26-7 vote and then was returned to the Assembly. All Republican senators voted for the bill along with nine Democrats, including three from southeastern Wisconsin: Spencer Coggs (D-Milwaukee), Lena Taylor (D-Milwaukee), and Bob Wirch (D-Pleasant Prairie).

The Assembly also passed the proposal on a bipartisan vote Tuesday, but since the Senate tweaked the proposal Thursday, the Assembly had to take it up again. Lawmakers in that house approved the Senate change on a voice vote shortly after 5 a.m. Friday. GOP Gov. Scott Walker has said that he supports the bill in principle but will still review it before deciding whether to sign it.

Under the bill, courts in most criminal and civil matters would presume that property owners using deadly force had acted reasonably against anyone unlawfully inside their residence, business or vehicle, whether the trespasser was armed or not. The proposal is sometimes known as the “castle doctrine,” a reference to the saying that one’s home is one’s castle.

The legislation is one of a slew of bills moving through the Legislature this week as GOP lawmakers advance their agenda ahead of recall efforts expected to start against Walker and state senators later this month.

On Tuesday, Wisconsin became the 49th state in the country to allow people to carry concealed firearms. Republicans said the castle doctrine bill was another step in helping law-abiding residents protect themselves.

“A person has a right to defend themselves and their family in their dwelling,” said Sen. Van Wanggaard (R-Racine), a lead sponsor of the legislation and a former police officer. “The fundamental issue is about protecting life, not property.”

But some Democrats said the law was not needed and was being rushed through unnecessarily to please gun rights groups.

“This day in the Senate is truly bought and paid for” by the National Rifle Association, Sen. Jon Erpenbach (D-Middleton) said.

A state group representing more than 600 criminal defense lawyers, prosecutors, judges and academics also opposes the castle doctrine bill.

“AB 69 changes Wisconsin law by providing a defense for irrational people armed with deadly force. Under its provisions, malevolent, reckless, or paranoid people who shoot trick-or-treaters or repairmen on their porch will be presumed to be acting in self-defense,” reads a statement issued this week on behalf of the criminal law section of the State Bar of Wisconsin.

The statement comes from a two-page memo sent to lawmakers by Gregory J. O’Meara, an associate professor of law at Marquette University and immediate past chair of the criminal law section.

“At present, no member of the criminal law section of the State Bar, which is made up of judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and academics, can come up with a single case wherein a homeowner was charged with a crime for defending himself or herself from a home intruder,” the memo reads.

Some district attorneys like John Chisholm of Milwaukee County and Joe DeCecco of Sheboygan County have said Wisconsin, like most states, doesn’t need a castle doctrine bill because existing law provides more than adequate protection for anyone legitimately acting in self-defense.

Under existing law, a person can’t seek to kill or wound someone unless he or she reasonably believes it’s needed to prevent the same type of injury to himself or herself. Supporters of the bill say that people in their homes or businesses don’t necessarily have the time to check whether an intruder is trying to hurt them.

The proposed immunity under the castle doctrine legislation wouldn’t apply to people who were using their home or other property for crimes such as drug dealing.

It also wouldn’t shield a shooter who attacked someone who he or she knew or should have known was a police officer. The Senate approved on a voice vote Thursday a Democratic amendment to offer that same legal protection to firefighters and emergency medical technicians.

Election measure. In other action Thursday, the Senate on a voice vote approved moving the state’s partisan primary elections from September to August and repealing a recently passed guarantee that voters can receive absentee ballots by email. The proposal has already passed the Assembly and now goes to Walker.

When Republicans who control the Legislature approved a law in May requiring voters to show photo identification at the polls, they included a provision to ensure every Wisconsin voter could get absentee ballots by email. But they reversed course on that point with this latest legislation.

No matter how voters receive absentee ballots, they have to return them either by traditional mail or in person.

The bill would require clerks to send absentee ballots to military and overseas voters by email, but it is silent on the question of doing so for other voters.

The bill’s lead sponsor in the Senate, Sen. Mary Lazich (R-New Berlin), said Thursday that she believes the legislation will have the effect of prohibiting clerks from emailing ballots to anyone but military and overseas voters. Reid Magney, a spokesman for the Government Accountability Board, which administers state election laws, agreed Thursday on that point.

Before May, election clerks had discretion on emailing those ballots to any voter.

All voters will still be able to request by email that their local clerk send them an absentee ballot using traditional mail.

Senate Democrats tried to amend the bill to keep the email provision in place, saying it was a simple question of making it easier for voters by requiring local clerks to keep up with changing technologies. They said that the emailed ballots would still have safeguards against voter fraud and that GOP lawmakers had already put up too many barriers to voting through measures such as the photo ID law.

“The technology is there certainly,” Erpenbach said.

“If we’re doing this, we’re creating two classes of voters, those who can get ballots by email and those who can’t,” Erpenbach said.

But Republicans beat back that proposed change on a party line 17-16 vote, saying they now didn’t want to overburden local clerks with requirements and were concerned about the security of emailed ballots.

“There’s a uniqueness and a difference about military ballots that are being emailed and the rest of voters around the state,” Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau) said. “Emailing ballots out there that are not necessarily secure is a major concern.”

Moving the primaries and having absentee ballots sent by email to military and overseas voters is needed to conform to a federal law. That federal legislation requires states to send the ballots to those overseas voters at least 45 days before an election to ensure they can return the ballots in time for them to be counted. Wisconsin’s existing election schedule makes it impossible to comply with that federal law, election officials have said.

The bill would move the primary from the second Tuesday in September to the second Tuesday in August – changing a schedule that has been in place for years. In 2012, that would mean moving it from Sept. 11 to Aug. 14.

Employment discrimination. Republicans approved on a party line 17-16 vote a bill that would prevent workers from receiving compensatory and punitive damages in state court in employment discrimination cases. Workers who were discriminated against could still receive back pay, costs and attorney fees.

Democrats say the measure could make some employers more likely to discriminate against employees. Republicans say it would prevent frivolous claims.

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